MW3 fix - any news?

Okay, that was meant to be a reply to this thread: forums.xbox.com/.../130054.aspx

But it looks like it's been locked.

I also notice issues when playing newer games, and my console is also 5 years old. Don't have any issues with older games though.

I never had problems playing the campaign but i do get the disk read error when playing multiplayer even though i am playing it from the hard drive. It happens at weird times and usually in the middle of a game which is very frustrating not to mention the dodgy online play, this game has been an epic failure since it came out. I will not be buying anymore of this franchise and have gone back to BF3 now at least the online play is consistent. I did send activision an email about the multiplayer issues and the reply was "we are aware of these problems and are trying to fix it as soon as possible so look for a patch soon". I would not hold my breath though you may pass out hahahahaha.

I haven't had any major issues with this game, either on single player or multi-player.  My MW3 has never given me a disc read error nor do I suffer lag during online play.  I have the game installed on the hard drive.  My current machine is over 3 years old is a replacement machine from MS.

Some consoles have issues running games using the new disc format.  Microsoft have used various manufactures for the drives over the years some of the older drives either don't like the new format or there is a problem with their firmware update. 

The Call of Duty games don't have dedicated servers.  The MW3 system does connect to a server, but these are used for matchmaking, the games are served from other users consoles.  So your connection depends how good the host connection is.  The Battlefield games connect via EA's own dedicated servers.  These  aren't perfect either and can vary depending on where you are located in relation to them.  There advantages and disadvantages to both systems.  Of course how good the networking code is on these games also plays a huge part.

In response to a couple of posts below, I couldn't install the game to HDD either, it was getting halfway through then (funnily enough) getting a disc read error. I had no joy playing the game after clearing the cache, or uninstalling the patch with the button combo suggested elsewhere. However, after clearing the cache it DID let me install the game to the HDD rather than getting halfway through an install and freezing, and since then, no problems.

I know this won't be a cure for everyone, this seems to manifest itself in different ways on different consoles, and some are unaffected - I guess a combination of problems with some hardware and some discs. But anyway, for me at least clearing the cache and uninstalling the patch (I found this video - [View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDpOhS-R0BM&context=C39bb912ADOEgsToPDskJrgF9QEbKDGxXLmpUZr7ey]) then allowed me to install to HDD and play no problems...so far!!

My concern now though is that there are already several reported games with this issue - eg. I've also got Forza 4 which I haven't tried to play yet, but apparently that's affected from what I've read - and as I've only got a 20Gb HDD, I can install a max of two games at a time. If I want to keep MW installed (which I do, as that's about all I play online) that means I can only be working through one other game at a time. This needs fixing properly!!

Hey there CeeJay! I understand you are having some disc read issues with MW3. Is this the only game that doesn't work, or do you notice similar issues in other games? If you use these same discs in another console, do you get the same experience, or do they seem to work better? Please let me know, thanks!

Mister Gwyther,

This is the only game I have had issues with, but then it is also the only game with the new DRM copy protection on it that I've tried playing so far. As above, I've also got Forza 4 which I gather has had some similar issues, but on nowhere near the scale of MW3 and a couple of other games (Skyrim and Batman seem to get a lot of mentions). I will get around to trying this in the next couple of weeks. The disc is in perfect condition and plays fine on another console (that one not on Live so didn't update). My other games work fine.

In response to the cut and paste response the support team seems to give to the similar problems here, clearing the cache and uninstalling the latest patch had no effect on playing from disc, but did allow me to then install to HDD, since which I've had no problems. Therefore I did not get as far as trying the 'disconnect HDD' fix that seems to work for some people. There is nothing to indicate to me that the console needs a repair.

It's clear that something (popular theory being the new DRM) is causing issues with some new games on some consoles (presumably incompatibility with some of the DVD players used). The root cause of the problem needs to be identified by MS in conjunction with the developers; if it can be fixed by means of a patch, great, but if not there needs to be either no quibble replacement of discs (again from reading around it appears that some discs are okay even on problem consoles, but people have been returning three or four copies before finding one that works), or MS need to be replacing the incompatible hardware free of charge (especially bearing in mind several titles are affected). If I hadn't got mine working there's no way I'd be shelling out £40 on a new copy (my only option as it was a gift and I don't have a receipt), and with the amount of problems reported and lack of proper response from MS and Activision I'd be seriously considering going to PlayStation rather than buying the new Xbox when it arrives. It's not good enough that MS recommends a $100+ repair that in the vast majority of cases isn't required, and that no-one is officially recognising there is a problem at all.